Leading the way with bespoke voice annunciation
New Zealand is a multi-cultural society with a number of languages spoken and identified with. Te Reo Māori is the second most common language spoken in New Zealand, and as such, it is important that it is utilised and recognised in a variety of ways.
Cirrus have been offering multilingual voice annunciation, including Te Reo Māori, for our voice annunciation lift messages for a number of years and it currently features in lifts in the New Zealand Treasury Building in Wellington, and in the Auckland Council buildings.
Those of you who watch popular consumer watch dog TV show ‘Fair Go’, would have seen Kyle Yozin from Schindler Lifts, meeting with Rangimarie, an inspiring young individual from Ao Tawhiti school in Christchurch.
Rangimarie, who is fluent in Te Reo Māori and incredibly passionate about the place of the Māori language in New Zealand, had expressed concern that Te Reo Māori translation wasn’t widely offered in lifts in New Zealand, especially in schools, and wanted to be the driver to change this. Kyle offered to help Rangimarie achieve her goal, as well as the opportunity to have voice featuring on the Te Reo Māori voice files.
After this meeting, Kyle contacted Cirrus as he knew we were the leaders in creating bespoke voice annunciation files and we were already working together on other projects requiring Te Reo Māori, including the lifts at Bowen House in Wellington, one of four buildings in New Zealand that house the New Zealand Government.
We are currently working together through the logistics of recording Rangimarie for the lifts at Ao Tawhiti.
The trend of utilising Te Reo Māori in lifts around New Zealand will continue to grow, and there are already plans in place to update all Government buildings around the country.
To check out a really cool example of how voice annunciation can be used in unique ways, check out this NHS Hospital blog where they have utilised Wallace’s voice, from cartoon Wallace and Grommet, for the lifts in the Children’s wing. “Going up..going up! Woah! Hold onto your trousers!”…such a brilliant way to connect with their users!
Reach out to discuss your unique needs, we look forward to chatting about your up and coming projects and how Cirrus can create a bespoke solution for your clients.